Tax refund? Tax stimulus rebate? How to get both of them faster

This tax season, many of us can look forward not only to a tax refund, but also to a one-time tax rebate, ranging from $300 to $1,200, plus $300 for every child.

To get that rebate, you must file a 2007 federal tax return.  And if you want that new rebate faster, you should file your 2007 taxes electronically and arrange for direct deposit of your tax refund. Doing so will automatically will also ensure direct deposit of your rebate. The IRS asserts this route is faster and more secure than snail mail.

How long can you expect to wait for your refund if you do it all electronically? As little as 10 days from the time the IRS confirms it got your return. And your rebate? The IRS says the earliest rebates will be distributed in early May.

Though the IRS hasn't said so, it stands to reason that early filers would get their rebates early as well. Conversely, it's a sure bet that if you file for an extension, you'll have to wait beyond that time for your rebate. That's because the IRS must have your 2007 return before it can determine the size of your rebate.

Other rebate facts:

•You must have at least $3,000 in income to get the rebate. At $75,000 in adjusted gross income for individuals and $150,000 for couples filing jointly, the rebate begins to phase out.

•If you're eligible to be claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax form, you're ineligible for the rebate. For example, college students who earned more than $3,000 can't get the rebate simply by asking their parents to forego claiming them as dependents.

•A number of folks who normally wouldn't file an income tax form, including certain veterans,  Social-Security recipients, and recipients of Railroad Retirement benefits, may be eligible for the rebate. But they MUST file a 2007 return in order to get it.

•If you've filed a 2007 return already but haven't included the benefits mentioned above--which might qualify you for a rebate--you can file an amended return, Form 1040X, available at  www.irs.gov.

•Beware of e-mail and phone messages on the rebate that purport to be from the IRS. They are most certainly are scams.

Comments

[Tobie Stanger (Consumer Reports)]

Tiffany,

Call the IRS at (800) 829-1040. Ignore the prompt for the rebate info (#7); it's just a recording.

[Frank]

I received my stimulus refund today for a total of $1200 but i have two kids and i didnt receive the $600 extra for them, what can i do?

[Wanda]

I called the 800 irs and they not given any information about when they will deposit our money, we did direct deposit. not able to reach a live person neither.

[Tobie Stanger]

Frank,

It is possible that the $1,200 includes the $600 for your kids. Did you file jointly or as a single head of household? Single taxpayers and heads of household only receive a maximum of $600.

Also, I believe that $600 per person is the maximum you can expect. So if you filed jointly, it's possible that you and your wife made too little to qualify for the maximum, $1,200. Or that you made too much, in which case your rebate would be phased out after you as a couple had adjusted gross income of $150,000 or more.

Keep in mind that kids age 17 and over are not eligible for the child rebate. It's also possible that you did not properly fill out the return to properly reflect the number of dependents you have.

If it's none of those reasons, call the IRS at (800) 829-1040 and find a human to help you. (Don't press #7) for rebate information; it is just a recording.

[Tobie Stanger (Consumer Reports)]

Wanda,

The IRS has just posted a new interactive page on its Web site to help you find out the status of your rebate. Go to

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=181665,00.html

and click on the part that says "Where's My Stimulus Payment?"

It didn't help me find mine, but maybe you'll have better luck...

[Jen]

I just got my tax refund back today and i didnt get the $300 for my daughter.. she is 16 mo old right now has lived with me the whole time she obviously has no income. i made a little over 9k n 2007 im a single mother. Why didnt i get that money?? Going by that she qualifies....

To be considered eligible to be your parents’ dependent you have to meet four tests: relationship, age, principal residence, and support.

•Relationship. You are the taxpayer’s child or stepchild (whether by blood or adoption), foster child, sibling or stepsibling, or a descendant of one of these.

•Age: You must not have attained the age of 19 by the end of the calendar year, or must be a student that has not attained the age of 24 by the end of the calendar year.

•Principal residence: You must have same principal place of abode as the parent for more than 1/2 of the year.

•Support. You must not provide more than 1/2 of his/her own support during the year.

You have to meet all of these to be eligible to be claimed on your parents’ return. So the student in your example is eligible to be claimed as a dependent by his parents, even if they decide not to claim him. That eligibility excludes him from getting the tax rebate himself.

At the same time, there’s another qualifier for this rebate that’s related to the Child Tax Credit: Dependents have to be under 17.

So yes, there will be folks who are by definition dependents, disqualifying them from claiming the $300 themselves, and whose age disqualifies their parents from claiming it as well.

Such is our twisted tax code.

[Tobie Stanger (Consumer Reports)]

Jen:

I assume you mean you got your tax rebate, not your tax refund. Your tax refund would not reflect the $300 child rebate.

Does your daughter's father claim your daughter as a dependent? If so, he would have received the child rebate.

Here are some other reasons (from the IRS Web site) why you may not have recieved as much as anticipated:

Q. I received my stimulus payment, but it was less than what my friends and neighbors received. Why?

A. Your economic stimulus payment will be based on information provided on your 2007 income tax return.

Many, but not all, taxpayers qualify for the maximum basic payment of $600 for singles or $1,200 for married couples. Many parents are also receiving an additional $300 for each qualifying child, born after Dec. 31, 1990.

Your payment may be less than the maximum for one or more of the following reasons:

You are single and your net income tax liability is less than $600. If you file Form 1040 net income tax liability is the amount shown on Line 57, plus the amount on Line 52.
You are married and your net income tax liability is less than $1,200.
You are single and your adjusted gross income (AGI) is more than $75,000. On Form 1040, AGI is the amount on Line 37.
You are married filing a joint return and your AGI is more than $150,000.
You owe back taxes.
You have non-tax federal debts such as unpaid student loans or child-support obligations.

Around the same time you receive your payment, you will receive a notice from the IRS explaining how your payment was figured. It is important to keep this notice as a record of your economic stimulus payment. In addition, you’ll get a separate notice if you owe back taxes or non-tax debts.

I hope that helps.

[pam sorton]

I'm disabled and live with my daugther who takes care of me. She claims me as a dependent. Will she get a refund for me?

[Tobie Stanger (Consumer Reports)]

I assume you mean a rebate and not a refund.

The $300 rebate for dependent children applies only to children under age 17. Claiming other, older dependents does not qualify a taxpayer for the $300 child rebate.

[beth cordova]

heres a question for you, that I havent seen yet. OK, we filed our taxes through HR BLOCK. we originally applied for the RAL which was to be put on the emerald card. BUT we didnt get approved for it (Still dont know why!) and so they ended up just filing electronically and we got it 15 days later on our emerald card. According the everyone at HR BLOCK and IRS, if you DIDNT get a bank product (which we didnt) it should be direct deposit. BUT my question is, since we DID apply for one, does that make us in the category of a bank product even though we didnt end up going that route. Kinda confusing huh? Its really sad how so many people REALLY desperatly need this money. We've already said it will most likely be the end of june before we get a check, but it sure would be nice if it was early. Also, it said that everyone would recieve letters about the stimulus. Has anyone recieved their rebate that didnt get the second letter? We got the first, but never recieved anything else. Also, when I check the irs website, and look up the status of my return (not rebate) it shows direct deposit on there and tells the date it was deposited. So would that possibly mean direct deposit? we wouldnt get it until may 9th anyway, but just wondering. thanks!

[Annie]

I used Tax Act to file our taxes this year, and had our refund DD. We DID NOT get a RAL, just the regular refund a few weeks later. I heard that this will delay getting our rebate via DD since the "fees" were taken out of our refund. Is that true?

According to the last 2 numbers of our SSN (41 and 51), we are scheduled to receive ours on May 9th. However, I have heard the IRS is processing them sooner. I tried the link but it didn't work for us. Someone I know, who was also originally scheduled for May 9th, said she read somewhere to expect the DD on May 5th. Do you know if the IRS will continue to do the DD early or was that simply something they did last week and we're still on schedule for May 9th?

Thanks!

[meredith]

Our taxes are filed electronically every year. However the last 2 years we have had to pay taxes. I know the govt has our banking information on file. So should we expect to have our refund directly deposited or should we look for a check in the mail?

[Judy Pidcock]

My daughter is divorced, absolutely no support from her ex, filed as head of household, has 2 children 9 and 13, earned approximately $45M, filed electronically. IRS site indicates she should have received her stimulus on May 2, did not receive it, is there any reason she would not be eliglble?

[Tobie Stanger (Consumer Reports)]

Annie,

The process you used to subtract your fees from your refund involved a third-party bank. In such situations the IRS is mailing taxpayers' rebates.

[Tobie Stanger (Consumer Reports)]

Meredith:

This year's tax form did include an opportunity to include your direct deposit information for the rebate even if you were not expecting a refund. If you didn't fill that portion out on your tax return, your rebate will come by mail.

In theory the government has your banking information on file because it is on your prior tax returns, but they have to ask your permission to use the information for direct deposit each year. For one, people close accounts from year to year, so the account numbers change. People's preferences also change; some years they may want direct deposit and some years they may not. Finally, it's a privacy issue. Most people wouldn't want the government to use their bank account information without their express permission to do so.

[Tobie Stanger (Consumer Reports)]

Judy:

I don't know why the IRS site said that. She should call (800) 829-1040, or just sit tight and wait a few more weeks.

If she used a refund anticipation loan or other temporary bank product, or had her tax-prep and/or electronic filing fees subtracted from her refund, she will receive the rebate by mail. The IRS says those checks will start to go out after May 16.

[ashley]

Anyone know how the IRS determines how much you get (if married filing jointly will get $600 or $1200). my husband and I filed jointly and received a rebate of $600. just trying to figure out why. We both have ssn and are far from making too much money. What other factors do they look at?

[Tobie Stanger (Consumer Reports)]

Ashley,

Check out this URL on the IRS Web site:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=181991,00.html

[Rita Eby]

I was wandering if my husband's ex-wife is entitled to his state refund. We filed-married filing seperately. I know he has arrearage but he is also getting a fed. return. He should qualify for the extra $600 according to the stimulus calculator. I am 90% sure that his fed. should pay the remaining arrearage but neither of us is certain. If the arrearage is more than his fed. return, is she entitled to any of the other monies? (i.e. state refund & stimulus payment)

[Sandra Sanchez]

Has anyone that was suppose to receive their refund on May 2nd, that also filed their income tax using Turbo Tax received their stimulus refund? Ours was suppose to hit our account by May 2nd. Now I find that if you used Turbo Tax the check will be mailed. Does anyone know when the checks will be mailed? Or are we now to use the mailed schedule? Just wondering if since our checks were suppose to direct deposit but the IRS has a glitch, if the checks were mailed anyway.

[Daisy]

My husband owes 193 dollars in back child support. Our tax refund was not offset. Will or stimulus rebate be offset anyway? I haven't received notice any notice stating it would happen, but when I check on the "where's my stimulus rebate" on the IRS website, it says it has no information available and we are scheduled for direct deposit on May 9th. (It is May 5th).

If we are offset, will it still be direct deposited or will the remainder be mailed?

[Emily]

I have not received a notice that a rebate is coming. I filed my 2007 taxes at HR Block. There could not be a mistaken address either.
What now?

Emily

[Linda Cruzeta]

My husband owes federal taxes from 2006, which he has payment installments. Does this mean we won't get a refund at all or will they take what he owes and send us whatever is left after the taxes are paid?

Also, I read on some of you replies that if you don't qualify this year you may qualify for next year- Is this tas rebate something the goverment is going to continue to do?

[christmas]

I recieve social security benifits and would like to know if I am elgible for stimulus check.

[Anna]

Sandra S.,

My boyfriend used turbo tax and was also supposed to recieve his payment on the 2nd and there has been no sign of it. We also used direct deposit. We have been waiting and waiting and no money yet. i dont know where to get a phone number to call or info on where it could be. I have no idea... this sucks. lol

Anna